Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

An official with the Mississippi High School Activities Association said last week that MHSAA schools will no longer play Madison-Ridgeland Academy and Magnolia Heights "until they stop openly recruiting" athletes from member institutions.

MRA has a 55-36 win over MHSAA member Taylorsville, a Class 2A public school, early in the season, but MRA won't be playing anymore MHSAA schools anytime soon, according to Lonnie Tillman, associate director of the MHSAA. He said on Tuesday that, except for football in 2016, MHSAA schools won't play MRA "until they stop openly recruiting" players from member schools. He said MHSAA schools won't play Magnolia Heights for the same reason.

After making multiple calls to Tillman, an MHSAA representative informed The Clarion-Ledger that all inquiries need to be directed to executive director Don Hinton.

A statement from Hinton reads:

The MHSAA has a long-standing policy that member schools must request approval to compete against non-member schools. At an MHSAA Executive Committee meeting in June, MHSAA executive director Don Hinton recommended the MHSAA deny requests to play non-member schools that recruit students from MHSAA member schools. The Executive Committee voted unanimously to accept the recommendation.

Officials from both MAIS member schools named in the article were aware of its publication but would not comment on the nature of the allegations.

"We are aware of the article," MRA head of school Termie Land said. "I don't have any response to that."

According to Magnolia Heights headmaster Marvin Lishman, his school's attempts for further clarification from the MHSAA were unsuccessful.

"We tried to reach out the MHSAA for details and they were not forthcoming with what the details were regarding the allegations," Lishman said, "so I cannot comment on the situation."

The MAIS will not be releasing a statement, according to director of activities Les Triplett.

"We don't comment on anything regarding another association," Triplett said. "We talked and decided we weren't going to make any comment on the MHSAA. The nature of the article was totally directed toward them (MHSAA)."